[Development of rapid detection of infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus by loop-mediated isothermal...

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay is a novel method of gene amplification with high specificity, sensitivity and rapidity, which can be applied for disease diagnosis in shrimp aquaculture. The method is performed under isothermal conditions with a set of four specially designed primers that recognize six distinct sequences of the target. In the present study, according to the conservative regions of non-structural protein gene NS1, a set of four specific primers were designed, and a rapid detection of IHHNV was established by LAMP assay. The parameters of reaction time and temperature were optimized, and its specificity and sensitivity were assessed. The reactions were carried out at 60 degrees C, 62 degrees C, 63 degrees C, 64 degrees C, 65 degrees C, 66 degrees C, 67 degrees C, 68 degrees C for different time (0 min; 15 min; 30 min; 45 min; 60 min; 75 min). A plasmid pMDIHHNV carrying target sequence of LAMP detection was constructed. Ten-fold serially diluted pMDIHHNV (10(7)-10(0)copies/microL) was used as template for LAMP assay to investigate the detection limit. To determine the specificity, LAMP assays were carried out with DNA templates from other pathogens (White spot syndrome virus; WSSV, Taura Syndrome Virus; TSV, Aeromonas. hydrophila, V. alginolyticus, Vibrio. parahaemolytious, Escherichia. coli). The results showed the optimized LAMP assay for the rapid detection of IHHNV was performed at 65 degrees C for 60 min. The LAMP assay had an unequivocal detection limit of 100 copies/microL, and it was 1,000 times lower than that of PCR. The nucleic acids of other pathogens were not amplified by this LAMP system with the specific primers, which showed a good specificity. The resulting amplicons were detected using visual observation after the addition of SYBR Green I and gel electrophoresis. We investigated the efficacy of UNG (uracil-N-glycosylase) and dUTP in avoiding carry-over contamination in the LAMP assay procedure and explored its effect on the amplification efficiency. Products of LAMP with dUTP adding could be lysed by UNG to avoid LAMP products carry-over contamination effectively. The LAMP assay could be finished within an hour, requiring only a regular laboratory water bath or heat block for reaction and the result could easily be detected using visual observation. Clinically suspected IHHNV-infected shrimp samples were detected by both LAMP and PCR assay, and the result indicated that IHHNV was detected rapidly by LAMP instead of by PCR.